Pacific Spirit Marine Institute

Longline Bycatch is a Cruel Way to Die

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Longline Fishing is said to be one of the most efficient methods of killing unintended sea life by commercial fisheries.

These lines can stretch for 50 miles. In some cases up to 3,500 hooks are baited per day. Longlines aren’t discriminating when it comes to what they catch either.

In the course of a year more than 4 million creatures are the unintentional bycatch of these longlines. This bycatch includes whales, dolphins, sea turtles and porpoises. Sea lions can also fall victim to the longlines.

Longline fishing has killed approximately 65,000 albatross and Southern Giant Petrels, in just the last 20 years, in the waters off of New Zealand. Longline fishing is a huge threat to these petrels.

Longline fishing is used to catch the bluefin tuna among other types of fish.

Diving birds, like the petrels, plunge into the ocean to grab a morsel of bait and are then hooked and pulled under the sea to their death.

There are method being employed by some to mitigate bycatch of some types of sea birds. Weights attached to lines can cause them to sink faster thereby taking the bait out of the petrels view. Streamers attached to the lines may also scare some of the birds away from the bait. Setting lines at night can also decrease the attraction to birds. But, these methods of mitigation don’t address other species in the bycatch such as sea turtles.

In what seems to be an unimaginable or at least surreal scene they bycatch is tossed back into the ocean either dead or dying.

On the other hand, the bluefin tuna once caught on the longlines are very carefully ‘KILLED with a SPIKE to the head’. The crew will gently lift the catch wearing gloves to protect the bluefin ‘gold’. Blankets and grass mats are used to protect the fish from bruising.

How can mankind be so cruel?

With the advent of bluefin aquaculture maybe flooding the market with more tuna will bring down the prices. If prices are lower maybe it will become economically unfeasible to continue longling fishing.

Photo thanks to Lucy Kemp / Marine Photobank

Labels: Bluefin Tuna, Longline Fishing, Petrels, aquaculture, bycatch